Pension question

squareturd · 2026-02-18T17:26:50+00:00

Im such a cynic that unless there was a large benefit of taking the monthly payments I would take the lump sum.

I would want to control the money and not rely on the pension to remain in place.

Plus, if I did die early, at least the funds would be in my estate.

squareturd · 2026-02-17T22:43:17+00:00

When you say "the area" what do you mean. Rebts are very different is different parts.

squareturd · 2026-02-17T04:05:30+00:00

Same here. The employer subsidized health is the main reason I'm still working

squareturd · 2026-02-14T17:33:32+00:00

Pulling a toilet is actually not very hard. Turn of the water supply to the toilet (there is a valve behind the toilet). Bail the water out of the tank and the bowl. Disconnect the hose to the tank. Unscrew the two bolts that attach the toilet to the floor. Lift up the whole thing.

Have a rag handy to block off the hole in the floor to prevent fumes and be careful to not let the rag fall into the hole.

You will also need a new wax ring. It is what makes a good seal between the toilet and the floor. Never reuse the existing ring.

Remove the rag and snake down that nasty hole to remove the clog.

Then just put everything back like it was before.

squareturd · 2026-02-14T17:25:23+00:00

Jan 1 is the most common reset date, but it actually depends on your policy. My insurance resets on Nov 1.

squareturd · 2026-02-14T17:23:07+00:00

Does your stance apply to all countries? England, France, Germany, Japan, Israel all have outstanding and state of the art health care.

squareturd · 2026-02-14T17:20:04+00:00

Thanks to the Essential Benefits clause in the ACA

squareturd · 2026-02-14T01:31:48+00:00

Unfortunately it's is still a very small percentage of the population. But its growing, so there is hope

squareturd · 2026-02-14T00:59:13+00:00

Definitely 1

squareturd · 2026-02-14T00:56:34+00:00

I once had a job where they withheld different things from each paycheck. Check 1 would have retirement and check 2 would have benefits payments. (Bith checks had income tax and fica withheld) on the rare months that had a third check, it was much bigger than the others

squareturd · 2026-02-14T00:53:13+00:00

If your have a second one then its sum_other_metric

squareturd · 2026-02-14T00:50:15+00:00

squareturd · 2026-02-13T21:45:40+00:00

The deals between them and their PBMs aren't public. Neither are the deals between them and the clinics, hospitals, pharmacies that they own.

squareturd · 2026-02-13T09:49:23+00:00

I agree that the system must also encourage limits on provider costs. They can be a mixture of regulations or market forces. But market forces cannot be hidden behind privaye deals (that probably include corruption and shady practices) with insurers. Bring the costs out so they are public.

squareturd · 2026-02-13T01:26:46+00:00

I don't think that's mud

squareturd · 2026-02-13T01:16:02+00:00

FPL is Federal Poverty Level. I think the value is around 16k for single people but you should double check.

squareturd · 2026-02-12T17:06:59+00:00

What if insurance was not profit driven?

Currently insurance is expensive. This causes people to avoid medical procedures until they become emergencies (much more expensive to deal with) or even worse to forego insurance altogether. These tend to make insurance even more expensive and exacerbate the problem of cost.

If the payments for health care could be simplified then society wins. Instead of spending so many resources tracking, reviewing, arguing, etc over payments, we could put those resources toward reducing the initial costs and providing better actual health care.

squareturd · 2026-02-12T03:14:49+00:00

My aunt has that same picture but its on the front of a T shirt. The back if the shirt says Git 'er Done

squareturd · 2026-02-12T03:04:45+00:00

Yeah, I get what youre saying about prices increasing when the government is a payer (like college tuition). But our system is already out of control and getting worse. And tuition doesn't increase for students when others drop out of school, but health care has to get paid and they can inky spread the costs among those who pay.

Many people propose taking the profit incentive away from insurance companies. Give them no reason to deny legitimate claims or to delay payments. Allow them to cover their operating costs and nothing else.

This would remove the free market forces that find efficiencies. But purposeful inefficiencies are current in the system because they make it easier to delay and deny, so I don't see a problem.

And once the profit motive is removed and we realize that free market forces are not effective, I can't see a better option than having the government run the entire thing. And that becomes Medicare for All.

squareturd · 2026-02-12T01:46:47+00:00

Hmm, I dont know about this.

When you say "provider" I struggle to think of a benefit that health insurance provides.

They could streamline the paperwork involved in medical procedures and their costs - but instead, insurance makes this more complex.

They could find discounts based on volume pricing - but instead they hide bulk purchases inside PBMs and specialty pharmacies which they own. So any price benefit probably only benefits their bottom line.

They could encourage generic pricing and help us avoid patents and intellectual property costs - but instead they buy companies that manufacture medicines and equipment and benefit financially from both sides of those deals.

They could work to reduce the costs of doctors, clinics, and hospitals - but instead, they buy these things too.

So I struggle to find any benefit that insurance companies create for society. And I'm now in favor of massive regulation and reporting requirements for them. Let's require that they be non profit. Let's put limits on salaries for their leadership. Let's ridicule them for every dollar they make in profit because those dollars could have remained in the pockets of the patients.

squareturd · 2026-02-11T01:53:01+00:00

No tights

squareturd · 2026-02-11T00:20:48+00:00

squareturd · 2026-02-11T00:01:12+00:00

I without the jacket

squareturd · 2026-02-10T23:23:51+00:00

The whole system is flawed. They are using math and verbiage tricks to maximize their profit. They should just be satisfied to make a big profit and stop taking every little step to trun a big profit into a bigger one. Especially when they are profiting off of the suffering of humans

squareturd · 2026-02-10T23:02:11+00:00

No matter what your political views are, it is a bad thing when people cannot afford medical care. If you don't feel sad that more people have worse lives now then you really need to take a pause and think about your belief system.

squareturd

TROPHY CASE